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Topic: Editing an ArmA original addon (Read 3589 times)

Hi,i have a p3d ArmA orignal, a texture.PAA ArmA original and a config file.About config file: problem solved.

Texture: i have modified the original texture opening it directly in photoshop with kegesty tool.After, i save as a .PSD. I have not change the dimension of the picture, i have only chenged the colours as i needs. After, like happened in OFP editing, i have saved as .TGA the picture. After, i have opened the same picture with Text view and saved as .PAA i.e. my picture its called ITA_soldier.paa

Model: i have opened an original .p3d ArmA model with the old P3D swap utility, used in OFP and with it i have redirect an original textures in i.e. : \ASZ_EI\data\ITA_soldier.paa , and renamed the p3d file in ASZ_soldier.p3d

I have put all in a ASZ_EI.pbo with kegesty tool.I have opened the game editor, the soldier its right indicated in the list as i have indicated it in the config file and.....the game crash with "Out of memory...."I have tried with another model, but happened the same.My PC have not problems to run the game normally or with other mod addons.

Planck, that applies only when changing texture paths via hex editing (as far as I know)..If one is using the old p3d swap tool, I believe it was called P3D Texture Swap Utility, like arremba says he's doing there should be no limitation on the texture name lenght..At least I never encountered any problems with that..

I'm suspecting more the fact that ArmA dislikes the soldier model (hence why there's basicly only re-textures of the BIS models about)..

arremba, I suggest you take a look at this. It contains OFP civilian models made to work in ArmA so that should give you hints about how to make it work in-game.

I would then tend to wonder whether the P3D Texture Swap Utility might not be compatible with ArmA p3d models in regards to resaving the file.The tool is getting rather old in the tooth and maybe ArmA p3d file format will trip it up......maybe

OK, found it (the path)Now i try to replace the path with the same lenght.How can i search easy the texture that i want to replace?(When i write the texture that i wont to replace, in the search tools of cignus, showing other letters and numbers)

If you use the find/replace function in Cygnus to look for, for example ca\wheeled\data\ and replace the path with your own path, making sure it is not longer than the original.all you would need to do then would be to also replace the texture name, also making sure it is not longer than the original.

If you actually name your replacement texture the exact same as the original, then you will only need to make sure the path you are replacing is the same length as the original path.

Another way would be to just search for .paa, this will find all paa files that are listed in the p3d and you can then edit each one individually, keeping the length correct as stated above.

Of course you also need to decide if you are replacing the rvmat files as well, or simply keep them as they are.

Next week hopefully BI will be releasing their newest version of Texview.When they do, get it and install it, it will allow you to view ArmA .paa files.

Once you have that, dePBO the PBO that contains the model you wish to retexture, I recommend using Mikeros Eliteness to do this.Eliteness can be found in many places, there is a version in the Editors Depot on this site, a link is at the top of this page.For example, if it is a soldier unit you wish to retexture it will probably be in the characters.pbo.

From this folder find the model file you wish to retexture and load it into a hex-editor, the Cygnus free edition I mentioned earlier in this topic will do fine.Search with the search function in this editor, search using .paa as the search criteria, make a list of all the .paa files you find and their paths.The .rvmat files are also listed there, but I would leave them as they are for now unless you want to change them and know what you are doing.

Next go to the folder containing the depbo'ed characters.pbo and find these textures, load each one into Texview and note the dimensions of each texture from the model you wish to change.

Texture dimensions must be in powers of 2 (2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024, 2048).Texview will tell you what each texture dimension is.It is best that the texture you wish to use is of the same dimension and quality as the original texture.The texture you wish to use should also include an alpha channel if the original texture also uses one, any alpha channel can also be viewed with Texview whilst viewing the original texture.

Once you have all the relevant information about all textures used by the model you can then load the model back into the hex editor and change the textures and their pathways to reflect the textures you want to use.

A word about the texture names and pathways from the original model file:

If for example the pathway and texture name was... ca\characters\data\camelpilothhl_dt.paa ...as an example.....then the new pathway and texture name must be exactly the same length in characters.With MLOD files this is not so, but with ODOL files, which is what you will be working with it is important.